PHOENIX – The woman found dead on Camelback Mountain last week went hiking with a Phoenix police officer.
ABC15 has learned that the officer’s name is Dario Dizdar.
At the crime scene on Friday, Phoenix Fire Department officials said Angela Tramonte went hiking the Echo Canyon Trail. She was found dead outside a house near the mountain.
Dizdar reportedly said he was her “friend” and that she was overheated halfway and decided to turn back while he continued the hike, officials said.
KNXV
But last week, according to her friends, Tramonte was the first time Tramonte met Dizdar in person.
She had been in Phoenix less than 24 hours.
Tramonte, who is from Boston, flew to Dizdar on Thursday. The two had only been speaking online for a few months, such as an online GoFundMe account and private social media messages shared with ABC15.
The direct messages on Instagram show Dizdar and Tramonte talking about their upcoming visit. The name of his account, which was deleted late Sunday, contained his ID number.
Photos and videos taken by Dizdar’s ABC15 photojournalists at the crime scene also match photos of him in uniform.
Phoenix Fire and Police officers did not reveal that the man with Tramonte was a city police officer.
After Dizdar hiked to the top of the mountain and then returned to the vehicle, he could not find her, fire officials said. The crews said Tramontes belongings were found in the car. To explain why the woman was found dead outside a nearby house, firefighters believed she was trying to alert someone in the area before she collapsed.
Tramonte’s close friends spoke to reporters in Boston over the weekend and expressed doubts about the first version of the events published by city officials.
“As a police officer, as a first aider, you should help people. If someone is walking up a mountain and you see her in need and she is not feeling well and she is exhausted, why not go back down, ”Stacey Gerardi told a WBZ journalist. “Why would you keep going up? It makes no sense.”
Dizdar has been with the Phoenix Police Department for 14 years.
Contact ABC15 investigator Dave Biscobing at [email protected].
Comments are closed.